Jianchao Lai is a second year Ph.D. student in the Department of Social Welfare of the Luskin School of Public Affairs. She received a Bachelor’s of Social Work from Nanjing University and Master’s of Social Work from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Upon completing her undergraduate and graduate programs, she worked at various government agencies, non-profit organizations, and community agencies related to the early childhood development and prevention of adverse childhood experiences. Her current research uses exploratory mixed methods design to investigate the unique factors of the Asian American population with regard to case reporting and substantiation of child maltreatment incidents.

Brenda A. Tully is a 3rd year Social Welfare PhD student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She earned her Master of Social Work degree from Fordham University in New York City and a BA in Speech Communication from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her research examines the experiences of young adults aging out of the foster care system with specific interest in their transition to housing. She is currently conducting a qualitative study investigating housing security and insecurity among young adults formerly in foster care funded by the Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. Social Justice Award. Brenda was awarded a 2018 UCLA Graduate Summer Research Mentorship to study the association between childhood poly-victimization and young adult housing outcomes among a cohort of former foster youth using secondary data analysis. Prior to matriculation in the PhD program, Brenda worked as a licensed clinical social worker and researcher in New York City for 20 years. Her research is informed in part by her experiences at Good Shepherd Services, where she helped launch the Chelsea Foyer, a transitional, supportive housing program for young people aging out of foster care and experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The Chelsea Foyer is designated an Emerging Approach to addressing homelessness among former foster youth by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.